When sailing with a dingy do you just tow it behind you?

Towing a dinghy is a good way to loose your dinghy. . . I cruise (motor) my sailboat an awful lot of miles along the Gulf and Atlantic ICW every year - and every year spot a few dinghies that have obviously been lost along the way. . .

I have an Zodiac RIB and use a dinghy davit (lift) to hold my dinghy out of the water. A lot of boaters do however tow them, and there are in fact some after market dinghy tow rigs that make towing a dinghy a lot more secure then just towing it with a rope.

The main problem with towing your dinghy is wakes from other boats. . . They can flip your dinghy right over, and so can some rough following seas.

Most "long distance" voyagers - ie: sailboats and deep draft trawlers, etc. make use of a dinghy. . . it is our "taxi cab" to many places we can not get to with our deep draft, and it is our SUV when anchoring out. A dinghy can save a long distance voyager an awful lot of money when cruising - as most Marinas, cities, parks, waterfront restaurants, etc. on all navigable inland lakes, rivers and coastal waters offer free dinghy docks to transient boaters. This allows us to anchor out for free and take the dinghy to shore for provisions or site seeing, etc.

When crossing oceans I will take the motor off my dinghy and stow it away, and deflate my Zodiac and strap it down on the deck.

So if you are in an area where there are not a lot of transient boaters, you won't see too many dinghies. . .

Towing A Dinghy

I've towed an 8 ft dingy with mostly good results. I've found it best to use two tow lines, one to each side of the square bow (pram type). They help to stop the hunting back and forth. Surfing up behind the sailboat can be a problem too.

Yes , tow it astern is the traditional way , usually with a bit of ballast ( like a filled water container ) put in the stern to make it tow quietly , help not take on water over the bow of the dinghy , and stop it from sheering about .

Bigger yachts CAN take them on deck but usually the dinghy then is a big nuisance up there , while being far too small for practicality when you put it in the water .

A sailboat will be slowed significantly by towing a dinghy behind. Particularly in light air. (low wind speeds). You can use davits to carry a dinghy off the stern, but more and more sailboats are caring inflatable dinghy's. They can be stowed in the lazerette.

Edit:

I had a 14 Shakespeare with a 25 HP Evinrude that I would occasionally tow with my 37 Irwin. It was a bit bigger that most dinghy's It was also faster. There was a noticeable drag even on that boat. It would sometimes take on some water, but bottom line it was very useful.

yes ,,you can do that if the water is not too rough or wind too strong , that could blow an inflatable dingy and turn it over . .I have done it lots of times when sailing around SF bay when i was going to be anchor out and going to shore. i did not have motor on my dingy and removed my oars incase it did over turn i would not lose them.,

You can, and we have. There is always the chance that it could start to take on water, so it is best to keep it on deck or attached to dinghy davits.

you can tow it behind, pull it up on davits across the stern of your boat, or put it on the fore deck